Recently, we announced the decision to sunset the consumer version of Google+. Before anything else, we want to sincerely thank all of you. G+ has had a wonderful run, and it would not have been the same without you. Whether you use Google+ once a day or every few months, we appreciate your contributions over the years.

Given the challenges of creating and maintaining a successful Google+ that meets consumers’ expectations and the declining use of the platform, we believe this is the right decision.

We’ll provide more details right here on Google+ about how to export and save your personal content soon, and will give you time to do so. We expect to fully wind down the consumer version of Google+ in August of next year.

From all of us on the Google+ team, thank you for making this a wonderful place to share.

We decided to sunset the consumer version of Google+. To give users a full opportunity to transition, we will be implementing this wind-down over a 10-month period, slated for completion by the end of next August. Over the coming months, we will provide consumers with additional information, including ways they can download and migrate their data.

Leslie Sallee: +Laura Bailey That sounds like Google+ Rewritten. Currently it's mostly Anime, (which I loathe) penis, poop, pee jokes, Bronies (another thing I detest), and generally useless posts. It looks like Collections and Communities won't be possible, if it's true the creator is using a social media template, which were two key features of G+ I appreciated. What is needed is someone who can build a site from the ground up with G+ features. I'm not holding my breath.

Share your travel stories, photographs, and favorite moments using the hashtag #mytravelstory. We want to know about the friends you made, the sights you saw, and the local cuisines you ate. Tell us your best travel tips and suggestions!

The iconic mountain Kirkjufell and its famous waterfall Kirkjufellfoss with the aurora. One of the highlights of my Iceland trip was seeing the northern lights above Kirkjufell. I stayed three nights in the area and saw the aurora on two of those nights. The display I witnessed was amazing and I photographed them for over three hours. Here I set up by the waterfall and caught the amazing green glow over the falls and mountains.

When planning my trip to Iceland it was all built around certain photography destinations-this being one of them. I timed the trip for early September to be after the worst of the tourist crunch and also to have a little bit of darkness to see the aurora. We had roughly a 3.5 hour window of darkness every night 11:30pm until 3 am when we could see it. I camped nearby and by staying three nights hoped I would be able to have a clear night to see the lights. I was lucky enough to have two nights here to see the aurora.

I said "Wow!" a lot here. :-)

Also, to help you understand words in Icelandic: Kirk is church; Fell is mountain; foss is waterfall. So this is Church Mountain and Church Mountain Falls when translated.

It has been almost one month since we rebranded the Google+ Collections Community and transformed it into Google+ Aspire. This change allowed our community to grow into a space where members can get feedback on all types of G+ content. Aspire welcomes users to share their posts, profiles, polls, collections, and so much more.

G+ Aspire is designed for anyone who wants to improve their G+ content and use our platform more effectively.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to our community this past month! This community could not exist without your shared posts and collections, and without the wonderful feedback that you all provide.

This community is moderated by the Content and Community Management Team here at Google. Google+ Create members also provide feedback on posted content and help connect users with each other. We encourage all of you to comment on each other's posts!

Keep creating!

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Windows 95 (wants to die): Google, maybe fix more prominent problems on the site like stopping false spam reports, fixing bugs and getting rid of those porn bots before doing this. I'm sure most users of this site would appreciate that.

Anton Sweeney: One of the most useful G+ features - Events - has been hidden away so most people coming to G+ can't even find the option. Please add this back to the main menu!

(Or, y'know... don't. And switch off the lights after the last person has left for facebook or some other platform that's actually useful).

Morning, Peeps ... here's a little somethin', somethin', from a drive through Napa Valley with hubby earlier in the year ... now, those were some steep hills! Have a super weekend, folks! (when a photo bomb adds value)

International Day of PeaceMy peace is harmony in the soul, this is a look at the small things of Nature: flowers, and those who live on them, it's smells of plants, land, and the sea. I was lucky to live in such a place where there are mountains, mountain rivers and waterfalls, forests with wild animals, the sea, and near me the people I love, and my pets.I wish peace and good to all in the soul, and in the world!#internationaldayofpeace#worldpeaceday